Description

A young boy named Link was raised in the village of the elf-like Kokiri people. One day a fairy named Navi introduces him to the village's guardian, the Great Deku Tree. It appears that a mysterious man has cursed the tree, and Link is sent to the Hyrule Castle to find out more. Princess Zelda tells Link that Ganondorf, the leader of the Gerudo tribe, seeks to obtain the Triforce, a holy relic that grants immense power to the one who possesses it. Link must do everything in his power to obtain the Triforce before Ganondorf does, and save Hyrule.

Ocarina of Time is the first 3D installment of the Legend of Zelda series. Like most of its predecessors, it is an action game with puzzle-solving and light role-playing elements. Basic gameplay system is similar to the previous games, allowing Link to explore the world and complete dungeons to obtain key items and advance the plot. Sword combat as well as many familiar items such as boomerang, bombs, the series' currency (rupees) of various values, heart containers and their collectible fragments permanently increasing Link's health, etc., return in this installment. Link can now lock on enemies for melee and ranged combat, actively use a shield to deflect projectiles, as well as use various magic items. Dungeon exploration is somewhat more puzzle-oriented than in earlier games. Link can climb certain surfaces, dive underwater, as well as automatically jump.

The game begins with the player controlling the child Link, but later on an adult Link becomes a playable character as well. Each of them has certain unique abilities: for example, only adult Link can use bow and arrows, but only the child Link can crawl through narrow spaces. During the course of the game the player obtains the Ocarina of Time. Learning and playing melodies on that ocarina is needed to advance the plot, complete certain side quests, or travel in time, switching between the two versions of Link. It is also possible to befriend and ride a horse named Epona to facilitate travel between areas.

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Development

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time started life in development for Nintendo's 64DD add-on for the Nintendo 64 (which was a disk drive that was only released in Japan with little fanfare). The 64DD flopped in Japan and it wasn't even released in the USA. As a result, this game, instead of being released in disks, was crammed into a cartridge (which was the biggest N64 pre-Expansion Pak cartridge released, in
terms of space).

Versions

There are at least three different versions of the game: 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2. The golden (limited edition) carts, as well as some gray carts, are all 1.0. The majority of the ordinary gray carts are 1.1, and many of the later produced ones are 1.2.

The only notable change between 1.0 and 1.1 is that the Fire Temple music was changed a little bit. It had a chant from an Islamic prayer looped in the background which offended some members of the Islamic community. 1.1 also fixed some bugs, the most famous of them being the sword-losing bug. In 1.0, if the player saves the game in the end battle after losing the Master Sword, and restart the game, they don't have the sword anymore, but they can use all items while riding Epona. Also the final boss had originally red blood which was changed to green in a later version.

Fan remake

Daniel Barras was making a PC fan remake of the game, titled Ocarina of Time 2D. Basically, this was to be a remake with all of the story, areas, creatures and items from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, using graphics similar to The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Regrettably, Nintendo was not very happy about this (or any other Zelda remakes that use The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past sprite rips), so the project is gone now.

Stone of Agony

The Stone of Agony allows players to feel a rumble to find hidden areas. This of course only works if they have a rumble pack accessory attached to their N64 controller (or are playing the Gamecube version). For the Wii Virtual Console version, this feature has been disabled.

Left-handedness

Link has always been left-handed, but it is particularly noticeable starting with this game. In the original title, this wasn't always noticeable due to sprite-flipping techniques. The reason for Link's left-handedness is that his creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, is also left-handed.

Voice acting

Voice acting for the adult Link was done by Nobuyuki Hiyama, who also did the voice acting for Link in Super Smash Bros. The person who did the voice of Link as a child, Fujiko Takimoto is a woman. This explains Link's extremely high voice.

References: Zelda series

The characters Malon and Talon are based on Marin and Tarin from The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. Marin was a Zelda lookalike who also had a beautiful singing voice.Tarin was her father and had a liking for mushrooms (he resembled Mario).

References

Both Talon and his assistant Ingo resemble Mario and Luigi, although it's interesting to note that they have an antagonistic relationship. Both Talon and Malon wear medallions that are shaped like Bowser's head.

Looking through the windows of Zelda's Castle, players can see pictures of Mario, Bowser and other Super Mario Bros. characters adorning the walls.

When using a GameShark, the player can make Arwings appear that will attack Link. The Arwing is the primary spacecraft of the Star Fox series.

The horse in the game is named after the Celtic horse goddess, Epona.

The lantern-carrying ghosts called Poes are named after the famous horror writer Edgar Allan Poe.

In the Forest Temple the player encounters the four Poe sisters: Joelle, Beth, Amy, and Meg. They are named after the four protagonists of the novel Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.

Awards

EGM

February 2006 (Issue #200) - #8 out of 200 of the "Greatest Games of Their Time" list

Game Informer

August 2001 (Issue #100) - #11 on the "Top 100 Games of All Time" poll